Boy, I've had a busy week, so I haven't really had a chance to make a new post until today. Last weekend was the high school's summer festival, and we all had a lot of fun. Everything came together at the end--the guys finished the float and the girls finished the costumes--and the weekend was full of fun activities, from a parade to a concert of student rock bands. Here are some candids from the festival:

(A bunch of the guys from my class dressed up in the boys' costume)

(Some girls [and one guy] from my class sporting their costumes and the self proclaimed "Kimu-Taku" look-a-like in the foreground. If you don't know who Kimu-Taku is, you can read about him here and see a pic of him here)

(A random photo-op with some other second-year girls)

(Me and Ishii)

Earlier this week my host mom took me and Patrik to a nearby town (the same place where I tried tonbi) to see their omatsuri festival. This festival was a little different from the Zenibako one when I stayed in the Shinto shrine; this time, we only stayed for about an hour, watching this awesome dance involving a guy dressed up as a demon running through fire. I also met some of Takuya's younger cousins, and they were all very cute. Here are some pics of the festival:

The rest of my week has been pretty much completely devoted to practicing baseball. Yes, Japanese baseball! I've always wanted to play with Japanese baseball players, and this week I finally joined the yakyuu-bu (baseball club) and began practice. All I can say is that my body was definitely unprepared.

Because of the school festival, we had no school on Tuesday or Wednesday. So, on those two days we had eight-hour practices! I don't think my body has ever gone through such a grueling two days in my entire life...in those two days we practiced more baseball than we would in a week in America! A lot of the time was devoted running and stretching (along with "field save", in which everybody on the team helps rake the all-dirt infield), and we also spend a lot of time working on our swings. The eight hour practices were basically two practices in one day, so I got a lot of reps in! On regular school days we practice from 3:30 to 7:00, and tomorrow I'll have another 8-hour marathon.

Even though my whole body was sore from head to toe until today (which is my first day of no-practice since I started), I'm having a lot of fun playing with my Japanese peers. Obviously, they work very hard and they take the game very seriously, but they're also a fun group of guys to play. They're always willing to talk to me and ask me about American baseball. The head coach is a little strict, but that's to be expected. He seems to be pretty fair, but the rest of the players don't like him very much. I guess tough coaches come off the same way to their players no matter what side of the Pacific you're on.

My teammates often come over to our house when there's no practice. Today was one of those days, so for the majority of the day about eight guys have been stuffed into Takuya's (and my) bedroom playing baseball videogames. Here's a pic (you cant see the three people on the bunk beds, so it was even more crowded than it looks):

(Just a note, we wear the coolest uniforms for practice: a blank white jersey-top, white pants, a white hat and red stirrups! I'll try to take some pictures of baseball practice soon.)